Sunday, July 22, 2007

Alright sorry I missed yesterday so I'll try to make this one especially good. Hope it's been a good weekend for all of you.

First off, Jose Antonio Reyes has been linked with a move to Lyon. Their president spoke about and said he's a good player that could enter into their plans, but so far no offer has been made. He did go on to say though, that "If you offered me the player, I would indeed say I'm interested." So this is good news, more suitors for Reyes, who clearly isn't staying in London, so maybe this will help us to get a better price for him. I've also heard that Sevilla, his former club, might be interested. Right now Madrid is bidding 2 fatted calves and a goat for Reyes so if we can get a better offer from anybody that would be good news for us, since the money would probably go to getting us a new winger to replace him.

Carlos Vela has joined Osasuna on loan for the season. He still can't get a passport until he plays a bit longer in Europe so we're loaning him out to the First Division side. It'll be nice for him to get some good experience in top flight football, he'll get to play against Barca and Madrid and all the other quality teams and it should prepare him for his return to Arsenal. He could qualify for a work permit as early as January, so surely we'll see him at the club next season. Arsene Wenger thought about keeping him at the club but has decided he might as well let him get some good match experience while waiting for the work permit.

The Arsenal Board are still saying they are firmly against any takeover bid, which is good news. I had kind of gotten the impression they may have been letting the idea into their heads and started to think about it, but Keith Edelman had this to say about any foreign takeover attempt:

"If you look at some of the other clubs with billionaire owners, their debts are mounting up.

"Anybody who invests in a club, particularly from overseas, who maybe doesn't love the club the way our shareholders do, will be looking for financial returns in the short, medium or long term.

"And if someone is looking for financial returns, they will in the long term take more money out of the club than they put in."

And he's absolutely right. Credit to him for coming right out and saying it so that the Arsenal fans who saw a takeover as a good thing will see that it isn't beneficial for the club. Not everyone is a Roman Abramovich who will put all of his own cash into a club. Most of the foreign investors don't care about the club, they just care about money. Let's hope the board holds down the fort for a long time.

In other news, just a few rumors...

People Sport says Freddie Ljungberg will seal a move to West Ham this week. I don't see this as likely because Freddie said he wouldn't ever play for another Premiership club.

We've also been linked with Stephen Appiah, but I haven't heard any of that before so I doubt it.

Also, as a random side note, Edgar Davids broke his leg. Serves him right for playing for Spuds.

That's about all the news for the day. Hope you have a good Sunday. Cheers!